research – Department of Psychiatryhttp://psychiatry.ufl.edu
College of MedicineMon, 19 Mar 2018 19:24:53 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4Garcia & Lewis present poster at UF Research Symposiumhttp://psychiatry.ufl.edu/neurocognitive-laboratory/recent-events/#new_tab
Fri, 25 Mar 2016 14:24:43 +0000http://com-psychiatry.sites.medinfo.ufl.edu/?p=14222The 2016 Undergraduate Research Symposium was held Thursday, March 24th in the J. Wayne Reitz Union Grand Ballroom. The Undergraduate Research Symposium is open to all undergraduate researchers. Students are invited to present a poster detailing their research. This year Christian Garcia and Ben Lewis from Dr. Sarah Jo Nixon’s Neurocognitive Laboratory presented their poster titled “Racial Differences in Telescoping: Investigation in a Treatment-Seeking Sample”
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Fri, 25 Mar 2016 14:14:36 +0000http://com-psychiatry.sites.medinfo.ufl.edu/?page_id=142152017 UF Celebration of Research

Lisa Domenico discusses her poster “Characterizing generalized anxiety among individuals receiving treatment for alcohol and substance use disorders” from the UF Neurocognitive Laboratory.

2016 Center for Undergraduate Research Symposium

The 2016 Undergraduate Research Symposium was held Thursday, March 24th in the J. Wayne Reitz Union Grand Ballroom. The Undergraduate Research Symposium is open to all undergraduate researchers. Students are invited to present a poster detailing their research. This year Christian Garcia and Ben Lewis from Dr. Sarah Jo Nixon’s Neurocognitive Laboratory presented their poster titled “Racial Differences in Telescoping: Investigation in a Treatment-Seeking Sample”

Christian Garcia presents his poster at the UF Undergraduate Research Symposium

Christian Garcia and Ben Lewis at the UF Undergraduate Research Symposium

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a multi-year Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, committing approximately $25 million per year across a national consortium. The University of Michigan and University of Florida applied in collaboration and were selected as one of 11 research sites in the nation to create the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study Consortium (ABCD-USA). Lead locally by principal investigators Sara Jo Nixon, Ph.D. (Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology; Co-Vice Chair, Psychiatry) and Linda Cottler, Ph.D., M.P.H. (Dean’s Professor and Founding Chair, Epidemiology; Associate Dean of Research and Planning, College of Public Health and Health Professions).

This $4.5 million award to the University of Florida aims to follow 400 adolescents from the North Central Florida area initially over five years and ultimately over ten years to determine the effects of substance use on the adolescent brain and cognitive development using multimodal brain imaging, cognitive and clinical assessments, bioassays, mobile monitoring, and careful assessment of substance use, environment, psychopathological symptoms, and social functioning. The broad nature of this research necessitates a multi-disciplinary effort of researchers and core services across the University of Florida including the College of Medicine, College of Public Health and Health Professions, and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

This research presents an exciting opportunity to identify pathways to substance use and its effects on child and adolescent development, which is critically important as the effects of substance use during these early developmental years will likely have long-lasting effects on brain functioning and behavioral, health and psychological outcomes.

Other research sites associate with this study include:

Betty J. Casey, Ph.D., Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York City
Rita Z. Goldstein, Ph.D., Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City

Sara Jo Nixon, PhD has been selected as a 2015 University of Florida Research Foundation (UFRF) Professorship award winner. The purpose of these awards is to recognize faculty who have established a distinguished record of research and scholarship that is expected to lead to continuing distinction in their field.

Dr. Nixon personifies the type of researcher that should be recognized through this UFRF award. She is engaged, effective and innovative. A Research mentor whose leadership is highly valued at all levels, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally; especially noteworthy is her continuous external funding since she initiated her postdoctoral training in 1987.

We extend our congratulations on Dr. Nixon’s outstanding accomplishments and sincerely thank her for her contributions and continued dedication to excellence at the University of Florida.

Current Research Focus

Much of the research in our laboratory concerns interactions between cognition, motivation, and addiction. In some of our work, we investigate how acute and chronic exposure to drugs of abuse affects cognitive and motivational outcomes, with a particular focus on risky and impulsive decision-making processes. In other work, we investigate the neural mechanisms of such decision-making processes, and how individual differences in decision-making predict propensity for future drug use. Our laboratory uses behavioral, pharmacological, biochemical, and electrophysiological approaches in rodent models to identify mechanisms that mediate relationships between decision-making and drug use, with the goal of identifying therapeutic targets for both disordered decision-making and addiction. In addition, we collaborate with other laboratories on projects concerning the behavioral and neural basis of age-related cognitive impairments.

Outside of the laboratory, I teach courses on the neurobiology of addiction and other psychiatric disorders, and I serve on the editorial boards of several professional journals.

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Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:18:59 +0000http://com-psychiatry.sites.medinfo.ufl.edu/?page_id=298Research Faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Florida are engaged in ground-breaking projects covering a variety of interests.

Substance Abuse/Addictions

Autism

Neuropsychiatric Research

Behavioral Research

Psychosocial Research

Psychopharmacology

Geriatrics

Global Health and Disease

Health Policy and Services

Addiction-Psychiatry Education

We are nationally recognized for our research on the following:

Addiction

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Autism

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD/ADD)

Pain

Physicians & Health Professionals Substance Abuse

Tourette’s Syndrome

Basic & Clinical Psychopharmacology

Neuroimmunology

Gene-Environment Interactions in Abnormal Repetitive Movements

The department also has a burgeoning research program in dynamic functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and proteomics.